PENNEY, Stephen "Earl"
PENNEY, KNECHTGES, TAYLOR
Posted By: K. L. Kittleson
Date: 8/21/2010 at 14:01:03
Stephen "Earl" Penney a long time businessman in Osage, was born May 16, 1899 near Stacyville, Iowa. He is the fourth generation Penney living in America. His father, Samuel Penney, was born September 1860 near Stacyville, the son of Arthur who came from England in 1945. Earl's mother's name was Anna Marie Taylor, she was born about 1964 near Stacyville. Earl had two older brothers, Hartley and Maurice and a sister Clara. Earl went to Ames to college to become a mechanical engineer.
Earl and his brother, Hartley, had Penney Brothers Auto Parts Store in Osage for 47 years. They worked long hours in their store. One of his employees, Lester Krones, said that often he and Earl would go back to work after supper and work to 11 o'clock. One morning Earl said he was routed out of bed at 2 a.m. by a trucker with a load of cattle who needed a tire fixed. Wilbur McCain, Asa Mills, Herb Grainer, and Lynn (Pete) Penney worked for them for many years.
Earl married Eva Belle Viola Knechtges December** 31, 1921. The had two adopted children, Stephen Greg and Dean Edward. Eva was born in 1900 the daughter of Henry J. Knechtges and Lillian Lula Fish. She died May 22, 1969 and is buried at Osage.
Earl's grandparents were Arthur and Harriet (Wallace Penney and Stephen and Ann (Triggs) Taylor. Arthur was born May 29, 1823 in Dorsetshire, England, the son of William and Elizabeth Penney. He died January 11, 1895 in Liberty Township and is buried at the Stacyville Cemetery in Union Township, southwest of Stacyville. Harriet Wallace was born December 7, 1920, also in England. She died in 1911 and is buried at Stacyville, also. They had 14 children, seven survived Arthur.
Steven Taylor was born in Sigford, Ilsington Parish, England on March 18, 1824, the son of Joseph Taylor and Fanny Payne. At the age of 11 he was bound out to the age of 21 because of the financial circumstances of his father. At the age of 30 he came to the U.S., settling in Diamond Lake, Illinois. He came to Mitchell County in 1856, settling north of what is now Stacyville. He died April 21, 1919. Both he and Ann are buried in Libertyville, Illinois. They had been married March 20 1862 at Diamond Lake, Illinois, and had been married before and had two children from her first marriage. They had four children, one of which, Dr. L. L. Taylor, lived at Libertyville, Illinois. Anna had a sister, Fannie, also a brother, Charles Wesley, who died before his father, in an automobile accident.
Eva Belle Knechtges's father, Henry J,. was born March 27, 1864 in Springfield, Dane County, Wisconsin, the son of Paul and Mary Magdelena (Loge) Knechtges, natives of Germany. The Knechtges family moved to Charles City, Iowa when Henry was two years old. He married Florence Lillian Fish on September 29, 1885 in Charles City, Iowa. She was born August 3, 1958 in South Dover, Maine the daughter of Nathaniel Fish and Nancy Shepard. The Fish family came to Iowa in March 1889. Henry died November 14, 1935 in Osage. Florence died March 8, 1956 in Osage. Both are buried in the Osage Cemetery. Eva had three sisters, Luella (Mrs. William Young) Rebecca, who died at the age of four, and Ethel, who died in February 1934.
Nathaniel and Nancy (Shepard) Fish had seven children besides Florence, they were: Ralph of St. Cloud, Minnesota, Mrs. J. M. Littlefield of Belt, Montana, Mrs. L. B. French of Frazee, Minnesota, Mrs. Jas. Hiller of Charles City, Mrs. W. R. Nicol of Osage, and Howard of Osage. One son, Herbert, died while serving in the Civil War. Nathaniel and Nancy were married in May 1839 in Dover, Maine. Nathaniel was born May 15, 1812 in China, Maine and died April 18, 1904. He served about one year in the army in 1837. Nancy died in 1883. They had lived on farms in Worth and Mitchell counties before moving to Osage in 1882.
By Frances Morse
[MITCHELL COUNTY HISTORY, published 1989, p. 393]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**Note: It is believed that this date is incorrect. They were probably married in September 1921, not in December.
Mitchell Biographies maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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